He had said that she was special. He had said he loved traveling with her. He had said she was brilliant. He had lied.

Lucy Blake was staring at her own trembling fingers, was closing her watering eyes again, was now staring at her own fate. She took a shaking breath in and accidentally let a tear spill onto the photo she held. She wiped it away, fighting the urge to both tear the picture into tiny pieces and clutch it to her breast and never let it go. She was holding a photo of Rose Tyler. Her blonde, smiling face had no idea it would be lost in a parallel universe, that was what the Doctor had told her at least. And apparently, she had a Doctor of her own, but one with only one heart who would never grow old. The Doctor had admitted that he'd loved her. That a part of him still loved her. He didn't know what she'd found, just that she'd had a nagging curiosity about his life before her. Lucy could now match the stories with the evidence. Beside her was a small chestnut box of photos and other things. There weren't many, but there were just enough to tear Lucy's heart apart. She set down the one of Rose, with her arm around a bloke called Mickey and picked up one of a beautiful black girl called Martha. She was in this very room, looking over her shoulder at the camera and about to hang a lab coat up in the armoire. The Doctor was standing a bit farther away from her, holding the sonic screwdriver and glaring at the camera, which seemed to be held by Jack. His hand had made it into the edge of the frame, like it was waving. The Doctor had told her that Martha now worked for Torchwood and was somewhat of a soldier. He said he'd done that to her. The next photo in the pile was of a red-headed woman named Donna. The Doctor had barely been able to hold back tears as he told of how she was the most important person in the universe for a few hours, was even a Timelord-human hybrid, and now wouldn't, couldn't remember any of it. In this photo she was smiling, it was somewhat close up so Lucy couldn't tell where it was. But towards the top of the frame was a purple Converse shoe that could only be the Doctor's. There were other photos that Lucy had already looked at, all in the same vein.

The next item she found was a letter. The paper was incredibly old and had a single tear stain on it. It was addressed to the Doctor from Reinette. She hadn't thought to ask about her, but from the letter's content she seemed to think she was dying. She called the Doctor an angel, a lonely angel. The last thing in the box was a blue diary, which Lucy couldn't even think about reading. A letter was one thing, but this was quite another. She only cracked open the front cover and saw the name River Song written across it. Lucy put everything back into the box, hid it in the floorboard where she'd found it, and then stared at said floorboard for a long time. Why did he hide it in here? Surely it would occur to him that the best place to store memories of his former companions was not in the current one's room. And then again, it had been all their rooms. Rose, Martha, Donna and River at least had all stayed here. On the very bed she sat on now. Lucy looked round the room, hating and loving it. She was infuriated, but she never wanted to leave. She couldn't just go back to living like a normal human. She couldn't think of trying to connect to everyday people. She couldn't go back to working at Thoreau Threads. And yet she knew this life would not last. The Doctor would tire of her, or maybe something terrible would happen to her. She was starting to think that she preferred that option. Lucy dried her eyes and felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She was being watched. She slowly raised her head, hoping that she could mask her anguish as exhaustion.

"Lucy, what's wrong?" he sounded alarmed.

Ok, so she couldn't mask it. He had totally screwed up her life. She used to be so good at hiding how she felt, so that no one could get in. But he had made her feel so much in so short a time that she was now no longer able to hide it. She decided not to play games.

"How many people have you traveled with, Doctor?" she tried to keep anything out of her voice. She looked straight at him, not accusing, but not exactly friendly.

He furrowed his brow, looking down at the ground. When he answered, he seemed to know where her line of questioning was headed.

"Quite a few. I'm really very old, Lucy, so you could understand, I'm sure. You've no idea what it's like-"

"Being alone all the time? Not feeling like anyone understands you? Not letting anyone get close to you this time because it just hurts too damn much?"

"It's different, Lucy, you've had a twin, I'm the last of my own species, and every one I love gets taken away from me!"

Lucy couldn't say anything to that. He was right, but still.

"Before you start yelling at me again, I want you to know something. I said the same thing to Rose, but it's just as true now as it was then. You can spend the rest of your life with me. But I can't. Whether you like it or not, one day you will die, and I'll still be here. And I can't watch that happen." Lucy stared at him, and could feel herself deflate. She couldn't be angry at him, but she wanted to be so badly. She wanted to run at him, scream and slap him right across the face and then she wanted to dissolve into tears and sink, shaking to the floor. But she didn't. She just sat there on the edge of the bed. It had stopped being "hers" and started being "the." Both of them were silent for a long while, and then, in a small voice, Lucy said, "Who was Reinette?"

The Doctor looked up at her, mouth open. "She, er, she was a French aristocrat. You would know her as Madame de Pompadour."

"You traveled with Madame de Pompadour?"

"No, but I knew her. It's sort of an odd story, but I ended up on a space ship that had different bits of her life in it. And I was too late to save her. And she died."

"You would have messed with history traveling with her."

"Maybe." he said, nodding. "Any other questions?"

"Yeah. Who was River Song?"

"You saw-"

"I didn't read it, I only saw her name."

"Well, and that's the strange thing, I technically haven't met her yet." Lucy lowered her head, peering at the Doctor from underneath her eye lashes. He almost laughed at her expression and then said, "The first time I met her was the last time she met me. We sort of went backwards, you know. She called me, needing my help before I'd met her in my own timeline."

And now Lucy was unable to stop herself from letting a single tear escape her eye. She sort of reeled in her seat and the Doctor was at her side at once. He was kneeling, holding her hand looking up at her. He didn't say anything, his eyes just searched hers.

"This means," she said, voice breaking, "this means that there will definitely be a time when I won't be with you, because if she knew me, she would have mentioned me."

"Lucy, Lucy, Lucy, nothing is definite. You didn't let me finish. She died. That time when she needed my help, she died. She saved my life that way. So I don't even know if I'll meet her anymore. I don't know….I don't know anything. And yeah, that scares me. Listen, Lucy, I can't guarantee anything. But-"

"Please. You don't have to say anything." Lucy's voice was coming out so quiet, barely above a whisper. "But you can understand why, why it would be hard for me. Because this is sort of like, I dunno, facing your own mortality. You've changed my life; you did the moment you looked at me in Thoreau's. And I can't go back to that life I had, I just can't." The Doctor was looking down at the floor and then he raised his deep brown eyes right to hers. He locked her in his gaze and Lucy felt she couldn't even move.

"We don't have to worry about that now. I'm not making any plans to get rid of you. Every single thing I've said to you is true."

"We'll burn that bridge when we come to it, right?" Lucy was smiling now, goading him.

"Right." He said softly, sharing her smile. He held onto her hand, making her stand as he stood. She looked up at him, barely reaching his collar bone. "Well come on then, I thought you'd like this." And without another word, he led her out the door of her room and into the main space of the T.A.R.D.I.S. He opened the front door, though they were still in space. Before Lucy could peer round his shoulder, however, he covered her eyes with his hands and led her slowly to the edge. When he removed his hands, Lucy gasped. In front of her, two masses were colliding. Well, that's what it looked like anyway. A straight, Milky Way like shape that was yellow and white in colour was being invaded by what looked like a spiral galaxy, all green and light blue. "W-what is it?"

"These two galaxies are colliding. That yellowish one is called the Banana Galaxy, clever isn't it? And the green spiral is the Scorpio Galaxy. Their civilizations are long since gone and after they finish colliding, they might create a black hole. They might not though. But this is a once in a lifetime occurrence, so I thought you'd be happy to see it." Lucy relaxed against the Doctor's chest, assuming that she could still breathe because the T.A.R.D.I.S. was sustaining her. She watched as two histories crashed into each other, ripping apart, bonding back together, whatever it was doing. It was beautiful.

"Thank you, Doctor."

"Not at all, Miss Blake." She stepped away from him and let him close the door. "I already have our next destination picked out, I brought Martha and Rose here and each time it was different. But this time, I think I got it right." Lucy felt the familiar hum of the ship beneath and around her and then they landed. The Doctor led the way out again.

The Doctor pushed the door open and Lucy followed, bounding slightly ahead of him. "Where are we?"

"New Earth. It's the year five billion and old Earth was destroyed. This planet had the same general make-up as Earth and all kinds of people flocked to it." Lucy was grinning when she heard the shot. She didn't even see who it was, but she saw as the Doctor was hit with a volt that electrified him and made him fall backwards into the T.A.R.D.I.S. He landed perfectly inside and as Lucy screamed bloody murder, she was grabbed from behind and a hand clamped down over her mouth. She was close enough to the ship that when she kicked out with all her strength, she was able to close the door with her foot. She put up so much of a struggle that her assailant set her down and then knocked her out with one powerful blow to the back of the head.

Lucy felt an awful stabbing sensation in her shoulder blades. Her eyes weren't open yet, but her other senses were working just fine. She was sitting, her legs bent to the right. They were stiffening up, and the pins and needles sensation was starting to grow in them. The stabbing sensation she had thought was a knife in her back was actually the feeling she was getting from her arms being pulled back and shackled above her to a concrete wall. She flexed her wrists and could feel that the shackles were loose. She could trace an entire circle round the diameter. She pulled down gently and found that she was stuck, the heel of her hands just slightly too big to slide through. Her hair was half tied back, the parts that hung loosely damp from sweat. She ran her tongue along her lips and found them cracked. When she opened her mouth and stretched it, she felt a couple small tears and then the cool liquid of her own blood. She licked the salty substance away, disliking the rusty smell and metallic taste. She finally opened her eyes and, although her head was still down, realised that it was dim, though not totally dark in the room. There must be a window above her, because silvery moonlight was pouring in. Directly in front of her was an iron door that had three bars over a tiny window. A cat flap was at the bottom, presumably to shove food through. She took in a ragged breath but the air was just as stale as before. Looking down at herself, Lucy saw that her black cashmere three quarter sleeved shirt was drenched with sweat. She pressed her back up against the wall, sitting straight and felt a different kind of dampness. It still smelled like rust. But her lips weren't bleeding anymore. Oh. The back of her head. Someone had hit her there and she'd gone out. She wondered how long she'd been here. Wherever "here" was. Oh god! Her head snapped up and knocked against the wall behind her. Ouch. The wound obviously hadn't healed. Or she reopened it, she thought, tears springing to her eyes. But the thought that caused these tears was not her pain. It was the Doctor. He had been shot right in the chest, electrified, and he'd fallen to the ground! He was in the T.A.R.D.I.S. all by himself! He might be- No! Don't think that, she told herself over and over. She looked round the room again, ignoring the stiffness in her jean clad legs when she moved. And there, to her right was the last sight she ever expected to see; another human being. She was about her age. She was slumped in much the same position as Lucy herself had been. Her hair was dark red and reached just a little long than Lucy's. Her skin was as fair as Lucy's and she looked near the same build, a little taller and a little heavier.

"Hello?" Lucy called. Her voice was hoarse and rough and she could feel her lips bleeding again. "Hello? Oh, please answer me, please don't be dead." Lucy watched as the girl ever so slowly raised her head and turned to look at her. Her face would be lovely when it wasn't like this. She had two black eyes and her lips were bleeding as well. There was a dark bruise that went all the way round her neck, like someone had strangled her. Her eyes seemed to be adjusting, perhaps she had been asleep?

"When did they get you?" the girl's voice was also hoarse and broke in several places, like glass splintering on the ground. Lucy thought she might have been from the North, maybe Wales.

"I-I dunno. I don't know when they got me. They knocked me out. When did they get you?"

"Well, they've pushed seven bowls of something I hardly touch through that cat flap, so I'm guessing about a week.

"A week!"

"They haven't broken you yet. I'd wager you haven't been more'n a day." Lucy tried to pretend that the girl's chilling statement didn't rattle her. She had no doubt that she didn't mean it to sound that way. She was probably half insane. "Well what's your name then?"

The girl didn't answer for a moment, like she had forgotten. She looked briefly up at her right hand, where Lucy could see something tattooed on the outside of her index finger. It was a bar code. Then the girl looked and said in a very sad voice, "Cara, Cara Small." Lucy fought back tears as she said, "Well I'm Lucy Blake. And what do you mean, 'they?' Who are they? How many of them are there?" The girl didn't have to think long this time.

"When they were putting my bar code on there were seven of them. But one of them got killed yesterday, disobeying orders, I think. And another one was seriously injured."

"But who are they? Have they taken over new Earth or something?"

"Not exactly. This is just Great Britain. They have plans of reigniting the British Empire. Only they are called the Alliance of the Sun. They have brands on them, initiation, I think. They're all of blood red suns."

"How many prisoners are there?"

"They just took Kenneth away. Before I fell asleep and you got here. I don't know if they have more people in other rooms, but in the seven days I've been here, I've seen six people, including you."

"But you only mentioned one name, what happened to the others?"

"Kenneth was taken away to be tortured. That's what they do. They think we're all traitors to the crown, but it's not true. The first day I was here, they killed this man called Matthew Johns. They just executed him. The next day they killed this woman, Rebecca, I think her name was. And just yesterday Rowan Carver joined them. They took him away to be tortured and he buckled and joined them. And…..there was Emma Parkis. She was only eighteen."

"They killed her too?"

"Not outright, they didn't. They brought her back from being tortured for over an hour and she just…died right here in the cell."

"My god. I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Lucy said, stealing the Doctor's line. She heard footsteps in the hall and then the heavy bolt turning on the other side of the door. Cara slumped against the wall again, looking almost absently at the door. Lucy would have none of that, she sat straight up and watched as a tall man in a grey uniform shoved a broken man inside. He crumpled to the floor, unable to stand on his own. The guard picked him up, dragging him across the floor, and shackled him on Lucy's other side. She looked over at him, eyes wide. He was glaring at the guard, his nose bloodied and probably broken, his face and arms covered in bruises. Lucy even thought she could see a cigarette burn on his collar bone. The guard turned his sneering face to Lucy. He took a key out of his breast pocket and unlocked Lucy's chains. Her arms fell and at once the stabbing sensation multiplied by ten. She grimaced and then winced as the guard grabbed her roughly and led her out of the room. She could walk, but her legs were incredibly stiff. The guard led her down a dank hallway. It was too brightly lit and she blinked, almost grateful for her guide. He led her all the down the hallway and then up a flight of stairs. Once up, he opened a door directly in front of them. He guided her all the way to a metal chair in the centre of the wide room. This room was almost completely dark, much like the dungeon where she had been. One lamp hung from the centre of the ceiling, shining down on her. She could sense that she was not alone, though. And sure enough, as the guard left and shut the door behind him, five figures approached her. She saw four men, much like the guard. Each had the sun brand on the right side of his neck. There was one woman and she looked to be the leader of the group. Her sun was branded onto her chest. Her skin was tanned, like the colour of cinnamon and her hair was straight and jet black. Her eyes were poison green and Lucy thought she was beautiful. Lucy also thought that this woman was going to kill her. She nodded to a guard on her left, all the while looking at Lucy. The guard stepped forward with a strange looking needle in his right hand. There was a pot of ink on a small table beside him. Lucy realised she was going to get her very own bar code.

"Wait." The woman said. "We don't even know her number yet. Am I right, Stanton, that you found her outside the compound in the company of a man?"

"Yes, Captain. We shot the man and he fell back inside his transport. He is of no importance to us, alien life form, but she didn't check out on the scan, so we took her in."

"Quite right, Stanton, quite right. So now, girl, you're going to tell me who you are and then we can get on with this." Lucy said not a word, just looked coldly up at the Captain. After a few minutes of their staring contest, the Captain seemed to get bored. "Looks like this one is going to be difficult. No matter, we can skip the code for now and get straight to persuasion. Now, girl, I want you to tell me who you are." The captain snapped her fingers and one guard with a fag stepped forward. Lucy knew what was coming and braced herself. But she couldn't ignore the searing pain of the cigarette being put out on her arm. She let a hiss escape her lips, but no other sound. The captain's lip curled. She indicated to another guard, who stepped forward and punched Lucy squarely in the nose. She felt it break, but still said nothing as she bled. She was breathing through her mouth now and glaring at the captain. She wasn't going to get her hands dirty. And Lucy knew that she would take every punch these guards could dole out until the captain had no other choice. "Should we hit her again, Rollins?" And now Lucy had her name. Rollins sneered and said, "No. I've had enough. She wants to play games? Fine, we can do that. Take her back to the cell, she doesn't eat." The guard who'd put the cigarette out on her grabbed her arm and led her put the door, down the stairs, along the hallway and into the cell. She was shoved against the wall and shackled again. Only when the guard left did Lucy let one tear fall then wiped it away, and most of the blood from her broken nose onto her pant leg. Cara and Kenneth were both asleep, and possibly unconscious. Lucy rested her head against the wall and looked up toward the window, through which light was starting to stream. "Wake up, Doctor. Come find me."